Shop with local sellers
When you buy products from an online shop that is local to you, your purchases aren’t travelling as far to reach you. From an environmental perspective, that means less petrol, pollution, and less of a carbon footprint. It also means that your money is going back into the North East, and supporting those who live and work in the region.
The North East is home to a huge range of independent businesses. We’d recommend local booksellers Forum Books for any avid readers, Bellwoods for your homeware and lifestyle gifts, Nucasa for art, and Block and Bottle for your Christmas dinner. You can also collect your purchases from their brick and mortar shops, so you can save on delivery.
Buy directly from the business
Websites like Etsy and NotOnTheHighStreet are online marketplaces, where independent sellers can typically reach a bigger audience than their own personal websites. However, sites like these charge commission when you make a purchase, meaning that the business comes away with less of the profit. The fees also vary, with some online marketplaces also charging a listing fee.
Where possible, use a seller's own website and make your purchase directly from them, so that you can make sure the business is receiving as much of the profit from the sale as possible. Avoiding sites like Etsy also helps you avoid AI products, or fake listings.
Check the brand ratings
When you’re thinking about buying something from a specific brand, it's difficult to tell how ethical that brand might be. The Good Shopping Guide rates popular brands to help consumers to know exactly how ethical an organisation is. To do this, they rate everything that a company does; including their environmental report and policies, packaging, animal welfare, human rights, child labour, political donations and their marketing.
The company gets an ethical score, which goes into a table and is ranked against other companies in the same category. They have ethical tables for Energy, Fashion, Food and Drink, Health and Beauty, Home, Money, Packaging, Pets and Technology, so you can find out how your favourite brands rank, and which business you want to give your money to.
Go second hand (Vinted, buy refurbished tech)
Second hand shopping is a growing industry; fashion reseller Vinted has more than 17 million users in the UK alone. People have a better awareness than ever around the environmental impact of fast fashion, and are turning to thrifting and pre-loved products for more ethical ways to shop. And, if you have a long Christmas list to take care of, shopping for second hand gifts is also a great way to keep your costs down.
There are online marketplaces you can use, such as Vinted and Gumtree, or you could try a second hand shop like Oxfam, who also have an online store. Some websites even have their own second hand or pre-loved section online, so you can buy from a brand you trust, and save some pennies in the process. Just remember to check the returns policy; if you are buying second hand, you might not be able to return your purchase.
